Page 53 of Father of the Wolf

“I don’t know if I can.” She knew she was being silly, but she had never had to deal with this situation before. “But I’ll try.”

“How serious are you about Athair?” Ella asked, taking Hope by surprise with her pensive tone.

She thought for a moment. “I like him very much. But don’t know yet where our relationship will lead. I mean, do you know how old he is? How long could a relationship last with him?”

“Those questions are fair enough. Just be honest with Athair about your feelings and concerns. He may feel differently than you, yet I’m certain he’ll have the answers you need.”

Before Hope could question her, Ella switched gears again. “Steve called in to the clinic, said his car had trouble, and that neither of you would be in today.”

“I’d forgotten all about work!” She clapped her hands to her mouth. “Will you thank him for me? Oh, never mind—I’ll do it, when I get back from waking Athair.”

She dropped her hands. She couldn’t help but grin with her wicked thoughts of how she planned to wake Athair. She waved Ella back to the kitchen and went to her bedroom to carry out her plan.

Ella returned to the kitchen deep in thought. Uppermost in her mind was her concern about the growing relationship between Hope and Athair. She knew that if they chose to deepen their bond, both would have enormous adjustments to make before they could consider building a life together. Athair knew next to nothing about the twentieth century world. And Hope knew almost as little about the reality of his existence, his strengths and weaknesses, and what it meant to be Valàfrn.

With all this weighing on her mind, she rejoined the young men who were busy preparing breakfast. Rath had managed to burn the toast while she was gone, but Dàn had cooked the eggs to perfection. Although, to give Rath credit, he’d never used a toaster before and scrambling eggs was much the same in any time period, regardless of the heat source.

The other three had somehow succeeded in cooking the sausage and bacon without mishap and were still discussing the microwave. They now had the manual out to study. Even she didn’t know where Hope kept that. Wherever they’d found it, they were deep in discussion about the machine’s inner workings.

Dàn found the plates and started dishing out the food. As Ella sat down at the table next to where he worked, he said, “You need not worry for them. Athair and Hope will be happy.” He paused with a distant look. “They will have four children, the first born within a year.” Dàn’s eyes still had a strange flicker in their depths, but she sensed he was trying hard to minimize their odd appearance. Otherwise, his health was greatly improved from the night before.

Although he was still weak, outwardly he seemed normal. Well, as normal as he was likely to be, discounting the strange mist, for which Ella had no explanation. All Dàn would say regarding its appearance was that the mist was now a part of him.

His prediction about Hope and Athair did reassure her. She understood how Dàn saw everything around him. They had talked the night before about the time before his birth. He’d asked about his mother, and who might be his father. She was unable to help him, but promised to look through the old texts in search of anything that might. They also had looked through medical records to see if there were any references to the drugs used on him, and their possible side effects. What they found was that his reaction was unique. Others experienced horrible initial pain, but very few after-effects. Nothing like what had happened to him. Thankfully, the meditation he had used seemed to help Dàn’s unusual circumstances.

“Thank you, Dàn. I was concerned about them.” And she was grateful. Hope was her closest family. More importantly, Hope would follow her as Keeper. A first. As far as Ella knew, no other Keeper had bonded with one of Vali’s children. She wondered how it would affect Hope or their children, if the Council would even allow it. She didn’t have any answers, but perhaps Dàn did. Would there really be a child within a year? She certainly hoped so. It would be wonderful to have children around again.

“Hey, Dàn, are you being freaky again?” Díon called while still facing the microwave.

“He can’t help himself. Weird is his middle name,” Reultan added.

Rath bristled protectively and started to interrupt their teasing when Sgrios entered from the porch.

“Yeah, he’s the Prince of Weird,” he said. Then he added in a self-mocking voice, “Don’t think I don’t hear what you all call me, either.”

He was purposely taking the attention away from Dàn. The others stepped back in semi-fearful submission, their hands raised in joking defense. Ella wondered privately if they were feigning the fear, or maybe even the joking.

Ella noticed how relieved Dàn appeared when he was no longer the center of attention. He slipped past Sgrios to carry his breakfast to the quiet of the porch.

When Sgrios made a motion to follow, Ella said, “Go ahead. I will fix a plate for you.”

He nodded his thanks and joined Dàn. Dàn didn’t look up when he sat down next to him.

Thank you. Dàn said in a silent voice.

“Why’d you let them get to you this morning?” Sgrios asked quietly. “You were beginning to flicker again.”

“I know they’re only joking, but at times it’s hard to appreciate. Especially when I know they do in truth fear me. Even more so, now.”

“I understand.”

“I suppose you would.”

They sat together and enjoyed the morning air until Ella came out, followed by Rath with two plates of food. He handed one to Sgrios and the other to Ella, and then returned to the kitchen for his own breakfast.

Within ten minutes, everyone had congregated on the porch. Even Athair and Hope, who were forced to endure much ribbing. Athair was no longer dressed in Hope’s cast off sweats and now wore the clothing she had bought for him.

Rath and Steve, in particular, thought the budding romance was a great joke. Rath welcomed them on the porch by acting like he had been shocked as he handed a glass to Athair. This brought a blush to Hope’s cheeks and a glare from Athair.

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